To celebrate Thanksgiving, the Editorial Board of The Christian Science Monitor ran an commentary entitled "What's best on the Thanksgiving menu? Giving, of course."

...By the time Abraham Lincoln declared it an annual holiday in 1863, Thanksgiving Day had evolved to become an ongoing measure of the American character for generosity, or acts of humble giving to others out of a gratitude for the goodness of God.

Sarah Josepha Hale, the crusading magazine editor of the early 19th century who championed the holiday, left no doubt of its purpose: "Let us each see to it that on this one day there shall be no family or individual, within the compass of our means to help, who shall not have some portion prepared, and some reason to join in the general Thanksgiving."...

But ironically, the same day that article ran, The Christian Science Monitor ran another commentary. This second commentary was written by Debi Ghate. Ghate is the vice president of academic programs at the Ayn Rand Institute.

What should we really be celebrating on Thanksgiving?

Ayn Rand described Thanksgiving as "a typically American holiday" whose "essential, secular meaning is a celebration of successful production. It is a producers' holiday. The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production." She was right....

...This country was mostly uninhabited and wild when our European forefathers began to develop the land and then build spectacular cities, shaping what has become the wealthiest nation in the world. It's in the American spirit to overcome challenges, create great achievements, and enjoy prosperity....

...So, on Thanksgiving, we should thank ourselves and the other producers who make the good life possible...

Yep. The vice president of academic programs at the Ayn Rand Institute believes that we should all be patting ourselves on the back. Why? Because America is fucking awesome! That's why!

Of course, she is dead wrong. Had Squanto not taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and grow corn (altruism in action right there), there wouldn't have been a harvest for the Pilgrims to celebrate. To claim that it is "a producers' holiday" is to overlook the means of production and the knowledge that was freely given to the Pilgrims.

Of course, those who pay homage at the altar of Capitalism quite often make this mistake. You see, it isn't the common man who created the wealth that the richest 5% enjoy...it is the awesome genius of that 5%. The richest 5% had the foresight and kindness to allow the common man to toil to enrich them.

It gets better.

But morally, each one of us should reach for the sky. Electricity, profits, and pie can only be truly earned through individual production – giving each of us the right to savor their consumption. Every decision, from which career to pursue to whom to call a friend, should be guided by what will best advance an individual's rational goals, interests, and, ultimately, an individual's life. We should take pride in being rationally selfish.

Yeah....morally we should all be selfish. And somehow Ghate sees no contradiction here.

Of course, the Ayn Rand Institute is named after someone who literally wrote a book entitled The Virtue of Selfishness so this is kind of par for the course.

I have written before of my thoughts on Capitalism and greed is not a virtue. Neither is selfishness. There is nothing moral about greed.

Contrary to Ghate's view of the early Thanksgiving ceremonies, the article by the Monitor Editorial Board claims:

Still, the American desire to commit good deeds for strangers, most often expressed during the end-of-year holidays, was planted long ago, first by the Pilgrims but even more so by the Puritans. In his 1630 "Model of Christian Charity" sermon, John Winthrop told his flock heading for the Massachusetts wilderness that they must create a new society, one in which everyone should follow this: "If thy brother be in want and thou [can] help him, thou needst not make doubt of what thou shouldst do."

That is pretty much the exact opposite of a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production for which Ghate claims the holiday should stand.

While Ghate claims:

It's a time to selfishly and proudly say: "I earned this."

I would counter there is never an appropriate time to selfishly and proudly pat yourself on the back and ignore the plight of others. Never.

While Debi Ghate and others of her ilk spend the holidays feeling smugly assured of their own superiority, it is exactly that selfish mindset that has destroyed our economy. Financial institutions wanted more. They felt entitled to it, but as Ghate claims all individuals are.

And then everything fell apart. But rather than see the problem accurately for what it is, Ghate would council that you simply spend your days being "rationally selfish".